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By Joshua Handler

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Monday, April 13, 2015

5 Films to See at Tribeca 2015

5 FILMS TO SEE AT THE

2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

By Joshua Handler

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival begins this Wednesday, April 15, and with dozens of films to choose from, it may be hard to decide on what to see. So, let me recommend a few titles that I feel are worth your time and money:

Photography by Robbie Ryan

SLOW WEST (Dir. John Maclean) - John Maclean's Slow West won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival for good reason. It's a darkly comic, fairy-tale-like Western featuring stellar performances by Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, and Ben Mendelsohn. At 84 minutes, the film is brisk, entertaining, and unexpectedly moving, and is quite possibly my favorite 2015 film thus far.

Photo credit: Crystal Moselle

THE WOLFPACK (Dir. Crystal Moselle) - Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, Crystal Moselle's bizarre, yet touching documentary tells the story of the Angulos, a family that lives in the Lower East Side of New York City. What's unusual about the Angulos is that the children have only been outside their apartment a few times in their entire lives and know most of what they do of life outside from the movies. The Wolfpack is an entertaining, disturbing, and immersive look into lives very different from our own.

Photograph by John Guleserian

THE OVERNIGHT (Dir. Patrick Brice) - A highly entertaining 79-minute comedy that's racy, crazy, and ultimately very sweet, Patrick Brice's The Overnight is a film about sex, marital exploration, and monogamy in the modern day. Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, and Judith Godrèche's committed performances and Brice's unpredictable, hilarious screenplay elevate The Overnight far above the average sex comedy.

Photographer Credit: David Felix Sutcliffe

(T)ERROR (Dirs. Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe) - Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, (T)ERROR is a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction documentary in which the filmmakers follow an FBI informant, Saeed, during an operation. The twist is that the FBI is unaware that the filmmakers are documenting Saeed's operation. (T)ERROR is a daring, provocative, eye-opening first-person look at the FBI's informant program that will have audiences discussing and debating long after they leave the theater.

Photo credit: Scott Uhlfelder

AUTISM IN LOVE (Dir. Matt Fuller) - This heartfelt, heartbreaking, and humane documentary follows four people living with autism on their respective quests for and through love. Director Matt Fuller treats his subjects with respect and never judges them. In the hands of a lesser director, the subject matter would be handled with a heavy hand and would rely heavily on sentiment, but in Fuller's hands, the film is a beautiful, honest exploration of love that will charm and everyone who sees it. This one is already a personal favorite and is bound to be a favorite of anyone else who sees it.

SPECIAL MENTION:

Photo Credit: Federico Martin Cesca

"Stop" (Dir. Reinaldo Marcus Green) - In nine minutes, Reinaldo Marcus Green puts his audience in the shoes of an African American teen boy who is racially profiled and stopped and frisked by the police while walking home at night. Timely, honest, and hard-hitting, "Stop's" impact lingers long after the film is over. Screening as part of the Shorts - NY: Double Espresso program.